Lake of hope
by psychotikitten
Summary: The game is over between the Hunters and the Blade Children, but what unknown fate is lurking for them in the shadows? Will one of the cursed be able to put his hope in Little Narumi once again before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Spiral or any of its characters, but if I did, I'd be far away on some remote island, enjoying the company of my trained monkeys!**

A/N: Ok, so I don't have any trained monkeys…but what I do have is my very first fic! I've watched all six volumes of Spiral about 60 times before I finally decided on doing something of my own. I hope I didn't miss anything…anyway, let's get on with it!

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**Eyes' Pov**

_I've always believed that Kiyotaka's younger brother could change our fate. There were times when I've had my doubts, but then again, who hasn't? I've come to realize that we are far from perfect. A perfect person doesn't rely on another to change their fate. I've realized that. I've opened my eyes to the future I want to have. Despite the fact that we live our lives in darkness, always meant to be hunted…I still believe in Kiyotaka's words. I want to believe…for myself, as well as the others. Deep in my heart I know that if we follow our own path and refrain from leaning on little Narumi, then I know, without a doubt…that fate can, indeed, be changed. _

Eyes Rutherford was lost in thought as those pale digits swept over the cold ivory keys, putting his full concentration on little Narumi instead of his music. It had been two weeks since he learned that little Narumi had been victorious in defeating Kanone, which left him unsure of what fate was going to throw at them next. However, he simply couldn't put his life on hold just because of his own uncertainty. No, he refused to let that get him down. Instead, he picked up where he had left off. He still had concerts to perform, press conferences to attend, and tours he had to go on to publicize his cd's. On top of all that, he still had to ensure the Blade Children's safety and juggle a relationship with Kanone at the same time. No, things were not about to be put on hold just to see what fate had in store.

Kanone lazily opened one golden orb to glance at his expressionless boyfriend, who was sitting at his piano with his eyes closed, and playing as if he were in a trance. A soft chuckle rose from the back of his throat and he sat up on the couch to get a better look at him. The music Eyes was playing was slow and eerie…haunting almost. Kanone had always enjoyed listening to the boy play, no matter what piece was floating through that silver head of his, but sometimes it was if he wasn't really putting his heart into his music. It really didn't matter, it sounded great, but it was as if he was nothing more than a hollowed out shell playing emotionless music…music from a dead heart. "Eyes?" Kanone hated to interrupt the boy, but he just had to ask.

The music never ceased its eerie melody. "Yes?" His eyes remained closed, his fingers gliding over to the next key, pressing it gently, then moving on.

"What do you feel when you play?" Kanone had been wondering for quite some time, and he would've asked sooner, had he known how to word it so Eyes wouldn't be offended.

The unearthly pianissimo ceased abruptly and azure orbs snapped open at the unexpected question. Kanone wondered briefly if that had been the wrong choice of words, and shifted beneath the icy stare. A tiny smile tugged at his lips. "That was a bonehead thing to say. Forget I said anything, dear." He laughed softly to dismiss it as a joke, then went back to lying down, hoping to fall asleep and forget about it.

Eyes watched his boyfriend, hoping to get some sort of reason as to why he would ask such an absurd question, but any hope of that flew out the window as Kanone lay back down, resting his head on his arm. So, he decided that the best bet would be to simply ask. "What do you mean?" that soft British accent wavered slightly, unsure if he wanted an answer to that question now that he had asked. But he couldn't just leave it up in the air like that without anything being resolved.

Kanone didn't bother to look up, and had a feeling that answering it would just cause Eyes to get upset. But if he didn't answer, he'd get upset anyway. Either way, he wasn't going to get out of it that easily.

The pianist could see that he wasn't going to be given an answer anytime soon. He knew Kanone could be difficult at times and joke around at unnecessary times, but Rutherford would have none of it. "Kanone, you were the one who brought up the subject, and as such, you should also finish it. If you don't intend on giving me a straight answer, then I suggest that you also intend to sleep on the couch tonight as well." Considering the conversation over and put behind him, Eyes got up and headed to his room.

This drew a response from the mahogany-haired Blade Child. Kanone sat up quickly and grabbed Eyes' arm as he passed the couch. "Don't." he ordered the teen.

Rutherford arched a snowy eyebrow. "Don't what?"

Kanone frowned. He hated how the boy could get him to play right into his hands. "Don't use sex as a weapon. You know how much that annoys me." He gently pulled the boy down so that he was siting on his lap.

"If it annoys you, then answer my question. What possessed you to think that I feel nothing when I play?"

"I didn't say that. I asked you what you felt." Kanone said quickly in his own defense.

"You were implying it." Eyes shot back.

"Well…whatever. I'm sorry for saying it, ok?" a kiss was placed on those pale pink lips to dismiss the subject that was going nowhere. Eyes pressed into the kiss, hesitantly at first, then purred softly as Kanone's tongue pushed past his lips to deepen the kiss. In that instant, all was forgiven. Kanone's hand trailed lightly up the boy's thigh, drawing a soft stare from the silver-haired Blade Child.

Kanone looked up into that deep blue stare. "Can I keep going?" he smiled, teasing lightly. Eyes nodded once, giving his approval to do so. Kanone smirked, his fingers playing with the zipper on the black leather pants his boyfriend wore.

A soft knock on the door interrupted the two, and Kanone silently cursed. He desperately wanted whomever it was to go away and come back later, but Eyes insisted on answering. Despite many pleading protests from the former, Eyes crawled off of Kanone's lap and moved across the room to answer the door. Once the lock had been undone, the door was opened to reveal… "Kousuke…" Eyes wasn't surprised. The boy had the worst possible timing!

The redhead smirked. "Yo." He said, in way of greeting. "Hey, Kanone. Long time no see."

"Not long enough…" Kanone grumbled beneath his breath. Eyes moved aside so that the boy could come in.

"What's got _him_ so pissy?" the teen cast a confused glance to Rutherford, figuring _he_, of all people would know.

"You don't want to know." Rutherford replied, deciding it best not to touch on the subject. A quick glance was cast to Kanone while Kousuke's attention was diverted, and Eyes silently mouthed the words. "I'll play with you later."

Kousuke looked back to the pianist once the object that caught his eye was no longer of interest to him. "So, Rutherford. I hope I didn't interrupt anything. I just came to see if you're free for dinner tonight. Ryoko wanted us all to go to some fancy restaurant to celebrate. Something about no more games with the Hunters or whatever. I didn't get all the details. Anyway, you can bring Kanone if you want to. We're all going to chip in to pay for it, so y'know…the more the merrier!" he shrugged.

"You mean, the more people you invite, the less _you_ have to pay." Eyes concluded. Kanone stopped being pissy long enough to nod in agreement.

"Funny…Ryoko and Rio said the exact same thing." Kousuke replied.

"You're such a cheapskate, Kousuke." Rio replied from behind him.

Kousuke looked back. "Rio! When did you get here! I thought you were staying with Ryoko!"

Rio smiled. "Well, you can't be trusted, now can you?"

"I should've known you'd try something like this." Ryoko spoke up, as she walked into the room. "You're just as predictable as ever, Kousuke. I knew you would come to Eyes so you could get him to pay for all of us. That's why I had Rio follow you and see what you were going to do. Don't think you can get away with this." She punched the boy in the arm.

"Ow! Hold on! I didn't even ask him! At least, not yet, anyway!" Kousuke groaned, rubbing his arm. "Violent, demonic banshee." He muttered beneath his breath.

Eyes sat down next to Kanone. "I don't mind paying." He stated as Kanone wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "What did you have in mind, Ryoko?" he questioned.

"You know that fancy new Italian place that just opened up by the mall?" The girl nervously played with the ring that Kousuke had given her as a token of their friendship.

"Doesn't that place charge sixty dollars for one person?" Kanone frowned. There was no way Eyes would ever…

"I'll pay it." Eyes spoke. "If that's what you all want. Consider it my early Valentines Day gift to all of you." True, Valentines Day was just around the corner, and is was an important holiday, but he never felt obligated to give anyone a gift.

"Really? You'd do that?" Rio gasped, wide-eyed. Rutherford nodded.

"Well, he sure has the dough for it." Kousuke smirked. "Rich bastard."

"So, I guess that settles it." Ryoko spoke up. "I hope it's ok if I made the reservations at 7: 00?" she looked around the room to make sure everyone was ok with it. Finding that no one disagreed, she looked to Eyes. "Will you and Kanone be there on time?" she knew full well about their relationship, and how Kanone could be super horny and sometimes lose track of the time. She had quite a few embarrassing moments from walking in on them, that she was staring to think that those two could do it anytime any almost anywhere!

Eyes nodded. "We'll be on time." A gentle nudge in Kanone's ribs was enough to get the message across.

Rio looked to the taller girl, wondering what she was talking about. "Ryoko? Eyes is always on time…" she frowned.

"Not when he's with Kanone." The mahogany-haired girl mumbled to herself. Kanone seemed to be the only one who heard this, and made a point to stare accusingly at Ryoko.

"And you're saying you're not when you're with…who _are_ you with?" he frowned when no one came to mind.

"That's none of your business." Ryoko huffed.

"Can we go? I'm hungry." Kousuke complained.

"Ryoko sighed. "Can't you wait until dinner?" she asked.

"That's three hours away!" Asazuki yelped. "Are you nuts? I can't wait that long! I'll die!"

"Bye." Kanone smirked. "We'll dance at your funeral."

Kousuke pointed quickly to Kanone. "See!"

Rio rolled her eyes at the overdramatic display for attention. Ryoko let out another exasperated sigh. "You won't die, idiot. Kanone was only teasing. I'm sure a snack won't hurt. Come on, we'll go to that café down the street for a cheesecake."

"I want a strawberry shortcake!" Rio smiled. "That place has the yummiest desserts ever!" she followed Ryoko and a sniveling Kousuke to the door.

"We'll see you later, Rutherford…Kanone." She waved goodbye as she opened the door.

Rio bounced happily next to her friend. "Bye, Kanone! Bye, Eyes! Oh, and I want my Valentines Day melon, too!"

Kousuke was too busy crying about the animal-like growls from his empty stomach to say anything to the couple as he made his way out the door.

Kanone sat there, staring at the unlocked door to make sure that the three wouldn't return. "Finally, we're alone." He sighed, leaning over to kiss that pale neck. "Now, where were we?" He whispered, about an inch or two from his target when Eyes chose, at that time, to stand up.

"_We_ should be getting ready for the dinner. Ryoko _did_ say that she didn't want us to be late. Perhaps you should get ready at your own house, lest you get any ideas in that sex-craved head of yours." Eyes really wasn't in the mood to be on the receiving end of Kanone's "urges" at the moment, and didn't want to get distracted by playing his little games and losing track of time, like they usually did. He made a promise to Ryoko, and he intended to keep it by any means necessary. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get ready without you drooling all over me." He spoke.

Kanone frowned. "Fine. But I expect to come back after dinner for dessert." He stated, knowing that Eyes knew full well what he meant.

"We'll see." Eyes tried to keep his mind on the dinner arrangements instead of what Kanone would be doing to him.

Kanone smirked. "Oh, we'll see alright." He slapped Rutherford's ass and left, closing the door behind him.

A/N: Hm, I don't think that was half bad for my first fanfic! A little lengthy, maybe, for the first chapter, but I kind of got carried away! I feel bad for making Kanone miss out of fun time with Eyes, but I didn't want to put a lemon in the first chapter. So, uh…I guess that's it for now! Review, please!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry for the slow update! My computer was being a bitch and lost the file I had saved, and I was about to write the entire chapter over when it decides to recover the lost file! I guess I got lucky this time. Anyway, this chapter, you'll see a bit of humor on Eyes' part, and even a hot steamy shower scene! (No pun intended.) I still don't have any trained monkeys, so I guess I'll have to type this myself. I could probably get CeTe or KousukeAsazuki to work for me. Anyway, enjoy!

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Eyes ignored the ass slapping he'd received and shook his head. How he came to be Kanone's boyfriend was beyond him. Maybe he could trade him in somewhere for a monkey. Monkeys couldn't possibly be as horny as Kanone. Maybe a cat...he liked cats. They were quiet, clean, and well trained, and he did tend to enjoy the purring. It was calming. But then again, he already had a pet. There was Kanone...and although Kousuke belonged to Ayumu, he was as close to a pet as humanly possible. Of course, he was more like a dog than any other species that came to mind. He growled at certain things that annoyed him, he begged, hell, he even gave a whimper from time to time! Ryoko had repeatedly qualified him as an annoying Chihuahua, but a different breed came to his mind. (I think you all know!) No, if anything, Eyes thought of the redhead as a poodle. (dies laughing) A slight grin tugged at the British Blade Child's stoic features and he made a mental note to buy Kousuke a studded hot pink collar when he got the chance. 'Poodles have to look pretty, after all.' He thought to himself, the grin turning into a full-fledged smile. He had to throw himself down on his bed and bury his face in a pillow to keep from laughing.

Once he had recovered from the torrent of abuse his mind was unleashing upon him, he sat up and tried to catch his breath. He fought the urge to smile yet again and made his way to the bathroom to wash up before he went to dinner with everyone. Entering the room, he stripped himself of his sleeveless black shirt and put it aside, moving on to his belt and pants, which were quickly thrown aside as he stepped into the shower and turned the knobs. A shower of ice cold spray hit him full force, but quickly turned warm in due time. Rutherford leaned his head back, closing his eyes to better enjoy the assault of spray running down his pale chest and arms, to glide down to his stomach, past slim hips and tight, round ass, and dripping down his legs to finally pool together to swirl down the drain. (Oh, how I love teasing you guys! Grins evilly) Eyes stayed like that, immersing himself in the rushing water and curtain of steam, enjoying every minute of it. The warm spray danced across his face as he extended an arm to reach for the bar of soap and the navy blue cloth hanging form the shower rack against the wall. After passing the soap over the towel a few times, he returned it to its resting place on the rack and passed the lathered towel over his shoulders and neck, quickly moving down to wash his pale chest and the other parts of his body.

Eyes dragged the dark cloth over the flesh that covered his imperfect, missing rib, finding that spot and pressing lightly at where the missing rib would be. A soft coo left his lips as he carefully massaged that area, finding it extremely sensitive to the touch, but at the same time, growing more curious, like a child who fawns over a new toy. He remembered the exquisite, mind-numbing sensation he felt when Kanone had discovered that spot early in the relationship and never ceased to be amused by the sounds that came out of Eyes when he kissed him there, or sucked lightly at the flesh. A shiver ran up the boy's spine, reveling in the fact that he could grow hard by just a little attention to his imperfect, flawed body.

Never had he even considered that being cursed could reap such great rewards. Kanone had seen that, and used it to his advantage. He was the one who took his time and lavished every perfect, or imperfect part of his body, and made Eyes writhe and moan shamelessly beneath him. Eyes forced himself to stop delighting in his excursions and narrowed his eyes, remembering all too well what had happened that night. 'He made me beg.' Now, Eyes wasn't the type of person to beg to anyone, and he'd be damned if someone thought they had the right to make him do something so degrading. But Kanone...they had been childhood friends and lovers, and Eyes had promised his heart...and his soul to his love sometime after his mother passed away. With both of those in his possession, then Kanone had every right to make his young lover beg, and he took every opportunity to do so.

Sighing, Eyes put the towel away and grabbed the bottle of minty shampoo from the overhead rack and popped the cap, quickly pouring some into his hair. Fingers gently scrubbed, foam building around the pale digits. Rutherford sighed with the contact, his eyes slowly closing. He remained focused on his work, but his mind had drifted.

He once remembered Kanone commenting on his hair as he washed it. It was a simple act, one that Kanone thought would help relieve some of the day's stress and put the boy's mind at ease. Eyes had protested at first, saying that he didn't need anyone's help to take care of himself, but his boyfriend had insisted. Rutherford remembered the older boy laughing as he shampooed his hair, saying that those white locks were like silk...pure white silk...and how they slipped through his fingers like water. Of course, Eyes really didn't see what was so fascinating about his hair, how Kanone, as well as his overly obsessive fans fawned over something so petty as that. It really didn't matter. Looks weren't that important to him. Sure, he cared about his appearance, but not to the point where it became ridiculously absurd. He was not one to be vain.

Rutherford moved his head under the warm spray to get the foam out, his fingers making quick work of the lightly bubbling foam and removing any traces of it from his hair. He rubbed the water from his eyes and the process was repeated over for the conditioner and papaya extract. (That's how he gets his hair so soft!) Once that task had been completed, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, quick in drying himself off, and shaking any excess water from his dripping strands. He slid into his boxers and the rest of his clothes that had been lying on the massive bed, and proceeded to walk out into the area where his piano stood.

He still had plenty of time before he had to meet Ryoko and the others for dinner, so he sat at the piano bench, just as he had done several times before. He ran his pale digits over the cool ivory, reacquainting himself with the keys, not that he had to. He knew the instrument inside and out. He knew every key, every string and its individual sound, every complex piece that held it all together. He'd spent his whole life around the majestic instrument, and had developed a sort of bond with it. No, he needed no re-acquaintance, not when he had become one with the very instrument he aspired to play. The passion he had to hear the soft, concordant notes burned at his fingertips, searing the flesh there until he dragged them over the cold, hard keys. But those heated digits were far from satisfied. Rutherford's hands struck across the keyboard like lightning, rapturing in the thunderous pitch that resounded through the room and reverberated off the walls. And then he was calm.

The ridiculously complicated piece slowed gradually to a slow, smooth tickling of the keys. Rutherford let his hands guide themselves, knowing the exact placement of each key to let his eyes drift shut. Only with about a year of practice he could trust himself not to make a single mistake as he played blindly, feeling out and memorizing each key, each note it possessed. For any other it would have taken years longer. Kanone had always said he was a fast learner…

'_Kanone…'_ His mind drifted. _'You taught me so much, so long ago…'_ But this was one skill that Kanone had never been able to teach him. No, Kanone's talents weren't suited to mentoring him in music. Eyes had gathered his skills from one far greater than him. He had been taught by Kiyotaka. Most of it, though was self teaching, but on some occasions, when Kiyotaka saw fit, he had stepped in and guided him through it. Eyes still held Kanone in high regard, but there were just some things he was lacking…culinary skills, for example. No offense to his childhood friend and mentor, but the boy couldn't cook for crap! Hs mind drifted to a time where Kanone had tried to fix a simple cup of instant ramen. It wasn't a very pleasant experience to say the least…the instant ramen bowl ended up catching on fire.

Rutherford shook his head lightly. How Kanone could be so horrible at something so simple was beyond him. A man who thought up elaborate strategies and tactics to use against the Hunters on a daily basis…couldn't even prepare a cup of ramen! "Absurd." The boy spoke aloud. His _own_ culinary expertise, however, was on a level that rivaled Ayumu's. It was no wonder Kanone always tried to stay for dinner! His cooking hadn't been taught to him by Kiyotaka, no, he learned from someone most dear to him…the woman who gave birth to him, raised him… his mother.

He would never forget the day that she had been murdered, brutally killed in front of him by the Hunters on his thirteenth birthday. It was his fault…if he hadn't been born a Blade child, then…

He forced himself to stop in his playing, moving away from his piano to look out of the window. _'I wish I could see you again…_' He couldn't change the past. All he could do was keep going forward, despite what the future held. That is how the Blade Children always lived. A sigh escaped his lips and he turned to glance at the clock hanging upon the wall. Not much time had passed since he sat down. His thoughts had kept him preoccupied for only ten minutes, and he still had over two hours left before he had to be at the restaurant. This wasn't going to be easy…

"Ok, so Ryoko, answer this for me. What should I give Eyes for a Valentines Day present?" Rio asked, after chewing the piece of strawberry shortcake she had in her mouth at the moment. "I mean, he's rich, so he probably has everything he already wants!"

"Like Kanone…" Kousuke mumbled beneath his breath.

"Shut up, Kousuke! I think it's nice that they're together. They do make a cute couple…if you ignore the jealous stares from Rutherford's fans." Ryoko added.

"I don't think that they like Kanone too much." Rio stated. "Some girl gave me a letter to give to him yesterday, and I think that almost all of the fans want him dead or something! It's _scary_! They're worse than the Hunters!" Rio whined.

"Come on, Rio. They can't be that bad." Kousuke smirked.

"Rutherford's fans are _crazy_! Why can't you see that? They want Kanone dead! For all we know, _all_ of them could be Hunters!" Rio wailed. "I don't want Kanone to die!" the poor girl sobbed, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. (Geez, _someone_ gets emotional during the holidays!)

"Thanks a lot, Kousuke." Ryoko frowned, punching the idiot in the arm. "Calm down, Rio. It's highly unlikely that every single one of those idiot fangirls are Hunters. You're just upset. There's no way that can ever happen." She wiped away Rio's tears and offered her some of her ice cream sundae.

"Maybe you're right." Rio sniffed, bringing the spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "Thank you, Ryoko."

"Sure." The brunette smiled.

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A/N: Well, Rio…wow…Valentines Day really gets her emotional, huh? Good thing Ryoko was there to calm her, or who knows what will have happened! Now about Eyes' thoughts on Kanone…yeah, It's a shame the poor guy can't cook a damn thing, now can he? I'm not going to explain the shower scene, I think that was pretty much self-explanatory. I know most of you are thinking, how weird it must be to have a guy write a yaoi fic (and I'll get to that chapter soon, I swear!) But it's my damned friend who got me into this, and to be honest, it's not all that foreign to me. Anyway, I hope you all can wait until I put up the next chapter, it'll be awhile! (But not as long as the wait for this chapter was!)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: What the hell did she do? Everywhere I look, KousukeAsazuki and Polaris' fics are everywhere! Are you guys trying to take over or something? And here, I only have two fics…I feel so left out. Anyway, sorry for the extremely slow updates! I'm not really the kind of person with a lot of time on their hands. (sigh) Ok, here's the chapter.

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Kanone and Eyes met the others at the restaurant at the designated time and after stating their reservations, were soon seated at a table by their assigned waiter, which was a boy in his late teens. "I'm Allister, and I'll be your waiter for the evening." He smiled.

"Ahem." Ryoko cleared her throat and cast a glance to Kousuke when they arrived at the table.

"Huh? Oh yeah…" the redhead pulled out a chair for Ryoko, then did the same for Rio, oblivious to the stares he received from Eyes and Kanone.

"Well now, looks who's the perfect gentleman tonight." The brunette chuckled softly. "So you _can_ teach an old dog new tricks!"

"Shut up." Asazuki mumbled as he sat down, glaring at the tablecloth.

"Kanone…" Eyes' voice traveled off in that warning tone he usually used for Kousuke. "Don't make light of the situation. Ryoko's trained Kousuke to the best of her abilities, and he's on his best behavior for once. Since he's behaving like he is, perhaps he deserves to be rewarded for his efforts." An icy azure stare was cast to the crimson-haired Blade Child. "If he's able to keep his …dignified composure until the end of the evening, then we _all_ show him a bit more respect. Do I make myself clear?" he questioned, making a point to look directly at Kanone. "That means no more name calling, punching, or any other kind of physical or mental abuse and degradation will be permitted."

"Rutherford…" Kousuke wanted to cry. "You're actually standing up for me? Thank you…"

"Keep in mind, Kousuke," Eyes reminded the boy. "Only if you can behave tonight will you earn this privilege. I don't want you making a scene. If you do, all bets are off."

"And you go back to being Ryoko's punching bag." Kanone added, smirking a little.

Asazuki groaned and tugged nervously at his tie. _'Why does this always happen to me?'_ he wondered, watching the others picking up their menus. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. _'Maybe I should just…'_

"What are you going to order, Kousuke?" Ryoko interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh? What? Oh, uh… The confused boy picked up his menu and opened it. "Um…The shrimp pasta looks good I guess."

Rio lowered her menu a bit and looked at Kousuke. "Even though this is an Italian restaurant, they have other foods besides pasta and breadsticks on here. Look! They even have roasted quail." She pointed out.

Rutherford arched a snowy eyebrow at the comment, and searched for the said dish.

"What the heck is quail supposed to be?" the redhead frowned.

"It's small bird that belongs to the pheasant family. Their extremely popular game. Aside from rabbit hunting, my mother often used to teach me how to shoot quail. It's extremely delicious," Kanone smirked. "Wouldn't you agree, Eyes?"

"I've had it myself, once or twice…" Rutherford commented, still looking for the mentioned dish.

"I think I'll stick with the pasta." Kousuke spoke.

"Hm, the lobster looks tempting." Kanone muttered to himself. "And it comes with a salad."

"Almost all of the items come with a salad." Rio observed. "What kind of salad do you like, Kanone?" she asked.

"I like the garden salads, myself. Eyes prefers the Caesar salad, though." The brunette replied.

"Why are we talking about salad?" Kousuke pouted.

"What was that?" Ryoko looked at him.

"Nothing…I didn't say anything." He leaned back in his chair and tried not to attract more attention to himself.

Allister walked up to the table and forced a smile. "I trust you all are ready to order?" he questioned.

"Well, I am." Ryoko handed her menu to him. "I'll have the chicken pasta and a glass of water."

"Sure." Allister took the menu and scribbled down Ryoko's order. "And for you, miss?" A stare was given to Rio.

"Ugh. Look at him. I can't believe how he's totally kissing their asses out there!" A young man scowled at Allister from the kitchen. "That jerk! Milkin' it for all it's worth…"

"Cool it, Chazz. It won't help anyone if you're going to be riled up like this. Don't forget, we're here for a reason. We can't afford to screw this up. Now get back to work. Table five is waiting." A girl, about the same age as Allister, gave her partner a gentle nudge in the ribs. "Focus on _this_ job for the moment before you get fired."

"Yeah, yeah." The frustrated boy mumbled, running a hand through his blood red hair.

Allister walked back into the kitchen. "Hey, Lor. I got their orders. Here you go." The mahogany haired boy smirked and placed the sticky note on her forehead.

"Ugh, real mature, Allister." Lorelei frowned, taking the paper off her head and glaring at him with deep violet eyes. "You boys are all the same."

"Hey, what's the fun in doing this job if I can't mess around once in a while?" Allister laughed softly, those soft grey eyes lighting up with mirth.

"So Kousuke," Kanone smiled, wanting to take advantage of Kousuke's 'training'. "Tell me…How does Rio look in that dress of hers?"

"It makes her look even more like a little kid." He stated, earning a hard nudge in the ribs from Ryoko. "I mean…she looks…." Kousuke held back the groan of pain. "Beautiful…" he sighed.

"Thank you, Kousuke!" Rio smiled. In truth, Eyes had picked out the dress for her. She had worn it because he said that the blue complemented her eyes. A small blush dusted her cheeks and she looked across the table at the light haired Blade Child. _'Thank you, Eyes.'_ She smiled, but tried to hide it when Rutherford looked her way.

"Something on your mind, Rio?" The Brit. asked, a bit concerned.

"Uh…no." The small girl lied. _'I wonder if he knows I like him…but…he has Kanone, and he's gay…'_ She realized, hoping that some small percentage of him might be Bi. _'Yeah. Like that'll ever happen.'_ She thought.

"I hope they hurry up with our food. I'm starving!" Kousuke complained, snapping Rio out of her thoughts.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I have to agree with Kousuke." Kanone spoke as his stomach growled, loud enough to be heard by almost everyone at the table. Rio tried to hold in a laugh.

"What was that?" Ryoko asked, sarcastically, as Kanone blushed a little. "Please tell me that wasn't your stomach. I'd be better off knowing that it was an aftershock from an earthquake. Not even Kousuke's stomach is that loud!" she stated.

Kanone laughed it off. "Sorry about that. I guess I should've joined you at the café." He realized.

Allister returned to the table, placing a salad in front of everyone. "Enjoy." He growled through gritted teeth as he walked off to serve a different table.

Rio stared down at her salad. "Yay!" Almost immediately, she picked out the tomatoes and dropped them into Kousuke's plate.

"Hey! Rio!" The boy made a face. "You know I hate those!"

"Well I do, too. And Ryoko doesn't want them…" the girl frowned. "Kanone, will you take my tomatoes?" she asked, reaching across the table to hand him a slice of said vegetable on her fork.

"Eat the tomatoes, Rio." Eyes sighed, calmly munching on his own salad.

"You only say that because you don't have any in your salad!" Rio pouted, waving her fork and tossing a slice of tomato at Kousuke.

"Rio, watch it!" the redhead frowned as it landed in his salad once again. "I told you, I don't like these!"

"Rio, Kousuke…" Eyes glared at the both of them. "Stop attracting attention."

Kanone had to hold in a laugh at the sight of Rio tossing tomatoes into Kousuke's food while the boy complained about how he hated the ugly vegetable.

"You're not helping the situation, Kanone…" Eyes stared at his boyfriend.

"Sorry." The brunette smiled.

When the other food was delivered to the table, the two arguing Blade Children quieted down a bit, too busy eating to sling insults. Rutherford sighed, enjoying the quiet while it lasted.

A/N: Those waiters don't seem too friendly, do they? Let's hope Allister didn't do anything to their food. I've had a few bad experiences with waiters, myself. I never did like those stuck-up people…they really piss me off. I liked the flying tomatoes at least. Actually, that did happen to me…my cousin tried to put the damn things in my plate! When I said I didn't want them, he made a world-class fit and started throwing them (and attracting attention). We were lucky we didn't get kicked out the restaurant! Anyway, leave your reviews!


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